Control mechanism for horizontal vehicle-scrubbing brush

ABSTRACT

A horizontal scrubbing brush for a vehicle-washing apparatus is vertically guided on a support which is pivotally mounted on a portal frame for swinging about a horizontal axis, on either side of a normal vertical position, whenever the brush is deflected by contact with a transverse vehicular surface. If the swing exceeds a predetermined angle of inclination, a hoist motor is operated by an inclination-sensing switch to raise the rotating brush until the latter has returned to substantially its normal position, the weight of the brush being partly counterbalanced so that the brush bears under light pressure upon an adjoining generally horizontal vehicle surface after the hoist motor has been stopped. Another motor, controlled by the same switch, operated during standstill of the hoist motor to advance the portal frame with reference to the vehicle (or vice versa) to let the brush sweep the last-mentioned surface.

ilnited States Patent Capra 1 Sept. 5, 1972 [54] CONTROL MECHANISM FORHORIZONTAL VEHICLE-SCRUBBING BRUSH [72] Inventor: Uberto Capra, AlteCeccato, Vicenza, Italy [22] Filed: Dec. 18, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 99,408

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 20, 1969 Italy ..26091 A/69[52] U.S. Cl. ..15/21 E, l5/DIG. 2 [51] Int. Cl. ..B60s 3/06 [58] Fieldof Search ..l5/DIG. 2, 21 D, 21 E, 53, 15/97 [56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 3,425,080 2/1969 Dolitzsch ..15/21 E 3,510,8995/1970 Vollenweider ..15/21 E 3,593,358 7/1971 Hofmann ..15/21 D FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,141,947 2/1969 Great Britain ..l5/DIG. 2

Primary Examiner-Edward L. Roberts Att0rneyKarl F. Ross ABSTRACT Ahorizontal scrubbing brush for a vehicle-washing apparatus is verticallyguided on a support which is pivotally mounted on a portal frame forswinging about a horizontal axis, on either side of a normal verticalposition, whenever the brush is deflected by contact with a transversevehicular surface. If the swing exceeds a predetermined angle ofinclination, a hoist motor is operated by an inclination-sensing switchto raise the rotating brush until the latter has returned tosubstantially its normal position, the weight of the brush being partlycounterbalanced so that the brush bears under light pressure upon anadjoining generally horizontal vehicle surface after the hoist motor hasbeen stopped. Another motor, controlled by the same switch, operatedduring standstill of the hoist motor to advance the portal frame withreference to the vehicle (or vice versa) to let the brush sweep thelast-mentioned surface.

7 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures Mercury Switch PFEEEsEP' 5 m2 3.688.329

sum 1 0? 2 Mercury Switch Attorney SHEET 2 0F 2 L Uberfo 66PM l N VENTOR.

CONTROL MECHANISM FOR HORIZONTAL VEHICLE-SCRUBBING BRUSH My presentinvention relates to a plant for cleaning, i.e., washing and/or drying,automotive vehicles and the like with the aid of rotating scrubbingbrushes, e.g., as generally described in my prior US. Pat. No.3,500,487.

Such systems normally include a so-called portal frame which straddlesthe path of the vehicle to be cleaned and which carries one or morescrubbing brushes, including at least one brush rotatable about ahorizontal axis for cleaning the front, top and rear surfaces of thevehicle. Motion is imparted to the frame and/or to the vehicle forrelatively displacing same during the scrubbing operation, the drivemeans used for this purpose being advantageously reversible to permit amore intensive sweep of both end surfaces.

While the front and rear surfaces of any automotive vehicles may beregarded generally as vertical, they do vary in shape and orientationfrom one vehicle to another, being usually somewhat inclined and gentlycurved in passenger cars but relatively steep and sharpedged in trucksor the like. With the usual hoisting equipment associated with suchhorizontal scrubbing brushes, the rate of ascent of the brush alongthese transverse surfaces depends on the frictional resistanceencountered and is therefore a function of the angle of inclination aswell as of other structural aspects of such surfaces. The application ofa given lifting force to the brush may therefore result in a faster orslower upward movement, at a rate which in some cases may unduly retardthe completion of the scrubbing cycle and in other cases may excessivelyaccelerate it at the expense of reduced efficacy.

Furthermore, experience has shown that the greatest scrubbing efficiencyis attained if the brush is set in counterrotating motion, i.e., if itssense of rotation is such as to oppose any upward movement of the brushalong a vertical surface scrubbed thereby. In conventional scrubbingsystems, however, such a sense of rotation is frequently impracticalsince it increases the frictional resistance encountered by the brushand may, under certain circumstances, completely halt its ascent. Withthe brush rotating in the opposite (forward) direction, the brush tendsto creep up on the engaged surface so that the duration of the sweep andthe relative velocity of the bristles along the surface are bothdiminished with resulting reduction of the scrubbing effeet.

The general object of my present invention, therefore, is to provide animproved control mechanism for the relative movement of a vehicle and ascrubbing brush to afford an adequate treatment time for the end and topsurfaces of a vehicle to be washed or dried, regardless of the shape andangle of inclination of the surfaces, with proper correlation betweenthe vertical and horizontal motions.

A more specific object is to provide a system enabling the realizationof the aforestated advantage with a counterrotating brush.

In accordance with the present invention, I provide a mounting for ahorizontal scrubbing brush which biases the same downwardly onto anunderlying vehicle surface in the unoperated condition of an associatedhoist motor, this motor being turned on or off by a position sensorresponsive to a deflection of a swingable brush support on the portalframe from a general vertical normal position. In that normal position,the sensor actuates the main drive motor to displace the vehicle withreference to the frame, or vice versa, along the track; under thesecircumstances the brush is suspended in its bottom position or bearsunder light pressure upon an underlying vehicle surface. In theoff-normal position of the brush support, i.e., when the latter has beenswung out by a predetermined angle, the previously deactivated hoistmotor is operated to elevate the brush until it clears the vehicular endsurface by which it had been deflected. Thereafter, as the supportreturns to normal, the hoist motor stops and the brush rides preferablyunder its own, partly counterbalanced weight on an adjoining, generallyhorizontal surface such as the hood or the roof of the vehicle. Onreaching the opposite end surface, the brush drops down to its bottomlevel while the main drive is arrested and preferably reversed, manuallyor automatically, to repeat the process in the other direction.

According to a more specific feature of my invention, the main drive isarrested whenever the hoist motor is energized so that no relativehorizontal movements between the portal frame and the vehicle occurswhile the brush is being elevated. If, during the sweep of a risingsurface, the brush support is restored to its normal position because ofa substantial inclination of that surface toward the vertical, the maindrive is restarted and the hoist motor is arrested to hold the brushlevel constant while the portal frame advances to take up the slack. Theswingable brush support may be provided with centering springs or thelike tending to maintain it in its normal vertical position.

The above and other features of my invention will be describedhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic cross-sectional view of a portal frameprovided with a swingable brush support according to the presentinvention;

FIG. is a diagram of the control circuit for the several motors of theassembly of FIG. I; and

FIGS. 3A-3L are a set of diagrammatic view illustrating the mode ofoperation of the system.

In FIG. 1 I have shown a horizontal scrubbing brush 1 for washing thefront, top and rear surfaces of an automotive vehicle V passing througha portal frame 4. This frame is horizontally displaceable on a pair ofrails 5 (only one shown) on which it rides by means of wheels 6 driven,in either of two directions, by a reversible electric motor 12. Anotherelectric motor 11 drives a capstan 11' around which a cable 3 is wound afew times, this cable passing about a pair of deflecting rollers 3, 3"and engaging one end of the shaft 1 of brush 1 whose other end issimilarly suspended from a second cable not shown. The two shaft endsare guided in slots 8 of a pair of uprights 8 (only one shown) which areswingable about the axis of roller 3' at opposite sides of frame 4. Acounterweight 9 at the free end of cable 3, together with a similarcounterweight at the corresponding and of the second cable, partlybalances the weight of brush 1 so that the same, in the de-energizedstate of motor 11, will tend to descend slowly to its bottom position asthe capstan 11' is decoupled from the motor shaft by the concurrentrelease of, say, an electromagnetic clutch (not shown) energized jointlywith the motor. When operated, motor 11 rotates in a direction tendingto raise the brush 1 toward the top of frames 4. A limit switch, notshown, may stop the motor 11 at that point.

In accordance with an important feature of my invention, brush support 8carries a sensing device 10 which has been shown as a mercury switch butwhich could also be in the form of a photocell, a set of mechanicalcontacts or the like. Sensor 10 detects any major deviation of brushsupport 8 from its illustrated normal position, i.e., a swing thereof toeither side by a predetermined angle +0: or a. Another switch 13 onsupport 8 is tripped by a dog 14, adjustably carried on cable 3,whenever the brush passes a predetermined level well above the top ofthe tallest vehicle to be scrubbed.

FIG. 2 illustrates, in addition, a manual master switch 15 in serieswith a source of operating current, a reversing switch 16 in theoperating circuit of motor 12, a similar switch 16' (ganged with switch16) in the operating circuit of a further motor 17 reversibly drivingthe shaft 1' of brush 1, a relay l8 operated in the closed state ofswitches 13 and 15, and a pair of alternately opened and closed switches2, 2' in series with two off-normal bank contacts of position sensor 10.Switch 13 is closed whenever brush 1 is elevated above theaforedescribed level from which, in the unoperated state of hoist motor11, it can descend under its own weigh to the bottom of frame 4 (FIG.1). Upon such descent, switch 13 is opened so that relay 18 cannot beenergized, even if switch 15 is closed, as long as sensor 10 is in itsnormal position engaging its center contact. In that position, however,the main drive motor 12 is operated, in a direction determined by theposition of reversing switch 16, in parallel with brush motor 17 whosesense of rotation is determined by the position of reserving switch 16positively coupled with switch 16. In the illustrated position ofswitches 16 and 16', switch 2 is open while switch 2 is closed so thatrelay 18 can be energized only if the armature of sensor 10 engages itsright-hand bank contact in series with that switch, i.e., if the brushsupport 8 is deflected by the angle +01 (FIG. 1) into one of its twooff-normal positions. When this occurs, relay 18 re-energizes the hoistmotor 11 while the circuit of main drive motor 12 is interrupted atcircuit breaker 10. If the switches 16 and 16' had been in theiralternate position, motor 11 would have been energized only upon adeflection of the brush by an angle a in the opposite direction, withthe armature of sensor 10 engaging its left-hand bank contact.

I shall now describe, with reference to FIGS. 3A-3L, successive stagesin the scrubbing of a vehicle V by the system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

In these figures, an arrow W indicates one direction of displacement ofportal frame 4 (FIG. 1) relative to vehicle V, the opposite sense ofdisplacement being denoted by an arrow W. Arrows X and X show the twosenses of rotation of brush 1 corresponding to the directions ofmovement W and W, respectively. An arrow Y indicates the descent ofbrush 1 under its own weight, whereas an arrow Z shows its elevation bymeans of the hoist motor 11 (FIGS. 1 and 2).

Switches 2 and 2 have been indicated diagrammatically in FIGS. 3A-3L bya pair of circles. An empty circle represents the inactive state of theswitch (as shown for switch 2 in FIG. 2); a cross in the circlesignifies a switch that is active but open-circuited (switch 2' in FIG.2) whereas a dot in the circle denotes a switch that is both active andin circuit (engagement of the corresponding bank contact of sensor 10).

Thus, FIG. 3A shows the condition of brush 1 rotating counterclockwise(arrow X) and moving horizontally toward the front of the vehicle (arrowW). Switch 2 is enabled but, at this instant, open-circuited so that thehoist motor is not operated, brush 1 therefore remaining at itsillustrated bottom level. This condition is not changed as the brushcontacts the front of the vehicle, FIG. 3B, until the continuing advanceof the portal frame deflects the brush and its support by the requisiteangle a (FIG. 1) as shown in FIG. 3C. At this point the switch 2completes the circuit for the hoist motor whose operation is symbolizedby the arrow Z. With continuing counterclockwise rotation, the brush nowscrubs the radiator grill of the vehicle (FIG. 3D) without continuing onits horizontal path since the drive motor 12 (FIGS. 1 and 2) has beenstopped. As the spring reaches the top of the hood, FIG. 3E, its normalvertical position is restored by its own weight and/or by the force ofcentering springs (not shown) on the frame engaging the support 9 fromopposite sides. With sensor 10 returned to its neutral position, thehoist motor is stopped while the frame drive is resumed so that thebrush slowly sweeps the top of the hood without substantial upwardmovement; if, however, the surface were so rough or so steep as toretard the horizontal advance of the brush to a significant extent, thehoist motor would be briefly reoperated to raise the brush slightly withmomentary interruption of the rearward sweep. Next, as shown in FIG. 3F,the brush is again deflected by its engagement with the windshield sothat hoist motor 1 l and drive motor 12 are altemately energized wherebythe brush rides up that sloping surface in a stepped motion which,however, results in a continuous sweep owing to the resiliency of itsbristles. On reaching the roof of the car, FIG. 3G, the brush resumesits steady rearward movement (arrow W) without any further energizationof the hoist motor, descending under its own weight along the rearsurface of the vehicle as indicated by arrow Y in FIG. 3H.

Subsequently, as suggested by arrows W and X in FIG. 31, the sense ofhorizontal movement and brush rotation is reversed with simultaneousactivation of switch 2 in lieu of switch 2. FIG. 3] shows the reverseswing of the brush, by an angle a (FIG. 1), as the brush re-engages thetransverse rear surface of the vehicle at the beginning of its forwardstroke. This deflection stops the forward drive and reoperates the hoistmotor (arrow Z) whereupon the trunk and the rear window of the car arescrubbed essentially in the manner described with reference to the hoodand the windshield. The roof of the car is swept once more (FIG. 3K),with the brush moving in the forward direction W, followed by a descentof the brush along the windshield and the hood to its starting level asshown in FIG. 3L.

It should be understood that the electric hoist motor 11 and other partsof the system may be replaced, if

desired, by equivalent hydraulic and/or pneumatic means, e.g., asdescribed in my above-identified prior US. Pat. No. 3,500,487.

1 claim:

1. In a vehicle-cleaning plant comprising a portal frame straddling thepath of a vehicle to be treated, first drive means for relativelydisplacing said frame and said vehicle, a scrubbing brush on said framerotatable about a horizontal axis, second drive means for rotating saidbrush, and hoist means for raising said brush with reference to saidpath, the combination therewith of a support for said brush pivotallymounted on said frame for swinging about a horizontal axis, sensingmeans responsive to a swinging of said support by a predetermined angleinto an off-normal position from a substantially vertical normalposition, and circuit means controlled by said sensing means foroperating said first drive means to the exclusion of said hoist means insaid substantially vertical normal position and for operating said hoistmeans in said off-normal position with continuous operation of saidsecond drive means, said brush being downwardly biased for descendingonto an underlying vehicle surface in the unoperated state of said hoistmeans.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said first drive means isreversible, said support being swingable into two alternate off-normalpositions on opposite sides of said substantially vertical normalposition, said sensing means being responsive to a swinging of saidsupport into either of said alternate off-normal positions for arrestingsaid first drive means and operating said hoist means.

3. The combination defined in claim 2 wherein said second drive means isalso reversible, further comprising control means for simultaneouslyreversing both said drive means for rotating said brush always in asense tending to lower the latter upon scrubbing a vertical vehiclesurface.

4. The combination defined in claim 3 wherein said circuit meanscomprises a pair of switches coupled to said control means forcompleting an operating circuit for said hoist means in either of saidalternate off-normal positions upon rotation of said first and seconddrive means in a first and a second direction, respectively.

5. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said circuit means iseffective to arrest said first drive means in said off-normal positionv6. The combination defined in claim 5, further comprising switch meanscontrolled by said hoist means for making said circuit means ineffectualto arrest said first drive means upon a raising of said brush above apredetermined level.

7. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said biasing meanscomprises a counterweight partly balancing the weight of said brush.

1. In a vehicle-cleaning plant comprising a portal frame straddling thepath of a vehicle to be treated, first drive means for relativelydisplacing said frame and said vehicle, a scrubbing brush on said framerotatable about a horizontal axis, second drive means for rotating saidbrush, and hoist means for raising said brush with reference to saidpath, the combination therewith of a support for said brush pivotallymounted on said frame for swinging about a horizontal axis, sensingmeans responsive to a swinging of said support by a predetermined angleinto an off-normal position from a substantially vertical normalposition, and circuit means controlled by said sensing means foroperating said first drive means to the exclusion of said hoist means insaid substantially vertical normal position and for operating said hoistmeans in said off-normal position with continuous operation of saidsecond drive means, said brush being downwardly biased for descendingonto an underlying vehicle surface in the unoperated state of said hoistmeans.
 2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said first drivemeans is reversible, said support being swingable into two alternateoff-normal positions on opposite sides of said substantially verticalnormal position, said sensing means being responsive to a swinging ofsaid support into either of said alternate off-normal positions forarresting said first drive means and operating said hoist means.
 3. Thecombination defined in claim 2 wherein said second drive means is alsoreversible, further comprising control means for simultaneouslyreversing both said drive means for rotating said brush always in asense tending to lower the latter upon scrubbing a vertical vehiclesurface.
 4. The combination defined in claim 3 wherein said circuitmeans comprises a pair of switches coupled to said control means forcompleting an operating circuit for said hoist means in either of saidalternate off-normal positions upon rotation of said first and seconddrive means in a first and a second direction, respectively.
 5. Thecombination defined in claim 1 wherein said circuit means is effectiveto arrest said first drive means in said off-normal position.
 6. Thecombination defined in claim 5, further comprising switch meanscontrolled by said hoist means for making said circuit means ineffectualto arrest said first drive means upon a raising of said brush above apredetermined level.
 7. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein saidbiasing means comprises a counterweight partly balancing the weight ofsaid brush.